If there was one short passage which helped me come to believe, definitely, that the doctrine of the “dark night” of Saint John of the Cross, while being true, has certain activations in a non-cloistered and/or partly active life, it was this one (the quote is from René Voillaume):

We ought to believe that the Holy Spirit, sent through Jesus, operates in us by his Gifts at all times, not only at the moment or prayer, but in our activities.

After all, three of the Gifts (Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge) are more or less contemplative in direction and the other four (Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord) are essentially active in direction. Father Voillaume continues,

We should humbly and realistically accept our limitations both in prayer and in action. It rests with us to devote ourselves to prayer, to prepare ourselves for it, to begin to pray, and to advance as best as we can, but we will come up against a limit beyond which only the Holy Spirit can enable us to pass. It is the same with action.

Wait. That was a condensed version of the necessity of the dark night of the soul of Saint John of the Cross: we can only do so much (meditation) by ourselves. Then the Spirit must take over to finish the job (contemplation). And there is a progress and a direction that the spiritual life in prayer takes. But, “It is the same with action”?

It is the same with action. We can indeed expend ourselves on a variety of activities  but we shall find our limitations in the strength we bring to them, in our courage an detachment, and, above all, in the perfecting of our charity. Only the Holy Spirit can take us beyond these limitations. Whether in prayer or in action, we are, then, wholly dependent on the Holy Spirit.

Wonderful to know. Not knowing this, not being told this, or not intuiting this could be a major roadblock in the spiritual life. Depending on the graces and Gifts by which the Holy Spirit leads in our given life and circumstances and history, the purification and dark night and dryness of our souls will be manifested in different ways. But it all aims at the perfecting of our love, a stark realization of our limitations, and a “becoming dependent” on the indwelling Spirit.

Some related posts:

• The Dark Night’s Dryness Experienced in the World
• What is the Difference Between Meditation and Contemplation? (Revisited)
• What is the Difference Between Meditation and Contemplation? (Fourth View)
• Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge